Posts tagged ‘hong kong’

As part of its goal to connect Chinese buyers with British Columbia jade, Electra Stone TSXV:ELT plans to open a new subsidiary located in Hong Kong. Called Vancouver Jade Holdings (HK) Ltd, it will support sales, marketing and administration of B.C. nephrite jade to the People’s Republic of China, Electra announced November 4.

In our longer-term plans, Hong Kong will serve as our international trading platform for finished jade products from China to the international market.—John Costigan, president/CEO of Electra Stone

“Hong Kong is the first part of our international expansion plans to deliver a fully integrated solution connecting the jade mining in B.C. with end buyers in Asia,” said Electra president/CEO John Costigan. “Vancouver Jade Holdings (HK) Ltd will serve as our international trading platform for the export of raw nephrite jade stones from British Columbia to China. In our longer-term plans, Hong Kong will serve as our international trading platform for finished jade products from China to the international market.”

Field work has so far confirmed jade on two of Electra’s six B.C. properties. In September the company bought and shipped an 18-tonne cargo of jade to Shanghai in order to establish trade connections. The company’s now preparing a second shipment.

Electra also sells chalky geyserite, or aluminum silica, from its Vancouver Island quarry to a cement manufacturer in Washington state.

A company with a development-ready potash project in Saskatchewan is taking part in a trade show at one of the commodity’s largest markets. Western Potash TSX:WPX forms part of Saskatchewan’s delegation at the Agro Technology and Business Fair 2014 in the northern India city of Chandigarh. The event expects to attract over 85,000 visitors.

Having reached full feasibility and cleared all permitting, Western “anticipates that the financing and development of Milestone will likely include the involvement of a multi-party consortium, with participation divided between a number of fertilizer industry players alongside financial institutions providing project finance,” the company stated.

The Indian event follows Western’s participation last month at the IFA Crossroads Asia-Pacific 2014 in Singapore and, in September, the 2014 World Fertilizer Conference in San Francisco and the International Fertilizer Association Production and International Trade Conference in Beijing.

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall joined his province’s delegation in Chandigarh to deliver a keynote speech. Saskatchewan’s potash and uranium reserves are expected to encourage closer trade relations with India.

In a September report, the Saskatchewan-Asia Advisory Council advised the province to identify “at least 10 major in-province investment opportunities for Asian investors” and to triple exports to Asia by 2020 “through enhancements to the Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership.”

Earlier this month Wang Hui joined Western’s board to represent CBC (Canada) Holding Corp, a joint venture of fertilizer producer China BlueChemical and Benewood Holdings, a subsidiary of Hong Kong investment firm Guoxin International Investment Corp. CBC has invested $31.98 million in Western with a 20-year offtake agreement. Hui serves as CEO/president and party secretary of China BlueChemical as well as chairperson for CBC.

Global giant De Beers says polished diamond sales are set to rise 4.5% this year, according to an Agence France-Presse report circulated by media on June 11 and 12. In an interview CEO Philippe Mellier attributed growing demand to a U.S. economic recovery and expanding markets in China and India.

“The largest global market for diamond jewellery is the United States and everyone knows they are taking off again,” AFP quoted him.

De Beers Group CEO Philippe Mellier

Together China, Hong Kong and Macau make up 13% of the global market, the news agency stated. “More and more Chinese are achieving the buying power to acquire jewellery and diamonds, especially when they get married,” said Mellier.

As for India, it’s “a potentially large source of diamond demand.” Mellier called new prime minister Narendra Modi a “fervent defender of an industry which he knows well, the diamond industry, having been governor of Gujarat state, which is known for its diamond polishers.”

The forecast echoes a May 27 report by Dundee Capital Markets, which attributed the last two years of rising diamond prices to new demand in China and India, as well as an American recovery.

Dundee credited De Beers, which controls about 40% of global trade, with one of the “longest-running and most successful marketing campaigns in history, built around the slogan A Diamond is Forever,” which began in the U.S. during the 1940s. “The story was repeated in Japan in the 1950s, supplanting pearls as the romantic gift of choice, and is repeating itself again in the emerging markets of China and India. Their combined population of 2.6 billion people is expected to drive significant growth off a well-established base in the West.”

The Global Diamond Report 2013 from Bain & Company forecast a 10-year period in which rough diamond supply growth of 2% would be overtaken by demand growth of 5.1%.

From Canada to Antwerp, diamond explorers, miners and traders serve a thriving market

by Greg Klein

For giant miners and junior explorers alike, diamonds upheld their market lustre in 2013 and show further encouragement this year. So it wasn’t quite an industry-wide shock when one record-shattering sale fell through. A group of investors fronted by New York diamond cutter Isaac Wolf defaulted on last November’s $83.2-million bid for the Pink Star, Sotheby’s revealed late last month. Now the auctioneer’s out the $60 million guaranteed to the anonymous seller. But the company retains the stone, to which it attributes an “inventory” value of $72 million. Meanwhile, undeterred by the caprice of the super-rich, efforts continue to find, mine and market opulence for the affluent.

This month Rio Tinto NYE:RIO heads to Antwerp and Israel for the company’s first rough diamond tender of 2014. Rio says this offer of 124 lots “showcases a unique combination of white and fancy-coloured rough diamonds” from its mines in Australia, the Northwest Territories and Zimbabwe. Among notable stones from the NWT’s Diavik, Rio’s peddling a 70-carat white diamond, several purple diamonds and some “fancy and intense” yellow diamonds.

Once pulled out of the ground, about 80% of the world’s diamonds go to Antwerp, the undisputed capital of global trade since the 15th century. The city handles about $11.2 billion worth of rough stones annually, out of a global total of $14.2 billion, according to the Antwerp World Diamond Centre. Vying for a piece of the action are some 1,850 local companies crowded into their own fabled district with “Flemish, Orthodox Jewish and Indian diamantaires working alongside manufacturers, rough and polished dealers, buyers and services providers from almost every country in which diamonds are mined, processed, bought and sold.”

The centre characterized last January as an “excellent 2014 kick-off” in which the value of exports jumped 27.7% and imports 21% over the same month last year. Exports showed “an all-around increase, principally to the usual consumer markets India, the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong.”

Polished diamonds picked up too. January exports improved 9.69% and imports 13.79% in value over the same month in 2013.

Although the stones’ esthetic vagaries complicate matters, diamond prices remained relatively stable last year, avoiding the declines seen in precious metals. Giants did well, with Rio reporting a 15% increase in diamond revenue over 2012. De Beers proclaimed 2013 “a strong year of growth” for its Forevermark diamond brand, “driven predominantly by continued consumer demand in core markets, China, U.S., India and Japan.” Many Canadian-listed juniors and mid-tiers rose well above the malaise suffered by their counterparts in other commodities.

Among activity within Canada, Kennady Diamonds TSXV:KDI continues working towards a maiden resource for its eponymous project in the NWT. Infill drilling began last week, according to a March 6 statement, part of a plan to better define the Kelvin kimberlite body prior to a mini-bulk sample of 25 to 30 tonnes. Last year a 4.3-tonne sample from Kelvin showed 5.38 carats per tonne with the three largest diamonds comprising “a 2.48-carat off-white transparent octahedral, 1.06-carat off-white broken aggregate and a 0.9-carat off-white transparent irregular,” Kennady stated.

The March 6 update also reported an amended exploration agreement with the Lutsel K’e Dene First Nation and receipt of a five-year land use permit and seven-year water licence.

The same day Shore Gold TSX:SGF announced a “target for further exploration” for its central Saskatchewan properties. A TFFE uses exploration data to disclose potential quantity and grade that might not be realized in an eventual resource estimate. On that basis, Shore’s TFFE for seven kimberlites “is estimated to include between 983 million and 1.17 billion tonnes of kimberlite containing between 52 and 90 million carats.”

The two deposits also have inferred resources totalling 9.1 million carats.

In other Canadian diamond activity, North Arrow Minerals TSXV:NAR closed a $5-million private placement late last month to fund three projects, two of them 80% options with Stornoway Diamond TSX:SWY. The Qilalugaq property in Nunavut is slated for a 1,500-tonne bulk sample and an Antwerp valuation next summer. Pikoo, a Saskatchewan project heralded for its diamond discovery in November, is expected to undergo till sampling this year to seek out additional kimberlites.

On the earlier-stage Redemption project in the NWT, North Arrow holds a 55% option with Arctic Star Exploration TSXV:ADD. This year’s plans include till sampling and geophysics at the 11,493-hectare project, 32 kilometres from the Ekati mine and 47 from the Diavik mine.

Dominion Diamond TSX:DDC looms large in the region, holding an 80% interest in Ekati, 58.8% of the mine’s Buffer zone and 40% of Diavik. Chuck Fipke and Stewart Blusson, two pioneers of Canadian diamond exploration, each hold 10% of Ekati, while Rio holds 60% of Diavik. Dominion ranks fourth worldwide for diamond production by value.

An Antwerp report that came through in late February evaluated a 1,013.5-carat parcel of commercial-size stones for Peregrine Diamonds TSX:PGD. Taken from the CH-6 kimberlite pipe in Nunavut, the gems were priced at an average of $213 per carat for a total of $215,605. Peregrine has a resource scheduled for CH-6 by the end of Q2.

The valuation was conducted by WWW International Diamond Consultants, a company that’s familiar with Canadian projects and currently evaluating diamonds for Gahcho Kué in the NWT. JV partners De Beers (51%) and Mountain Province Diamonds TSX:MPV (49%) plan to use the data in a feasibility update scheduled for release by the end of March. Gahcho Kué’s expected to become Canada’s next diamond mine.

Read more about diamond mining and exploration in Canada here and here.

Israel’s polished diamond exports rose by 12% over the past year, after a 23% dip in 2012, the Israeli Diamond Industry announced on January 16.

The Diamond Exchange in Ramat Gan, Israel.

The country’s trade in polished precious stones brought in $6.2 billion—$1 billion less than in 2011, a record year for polished diamond exports. Rough diamond exports totalled $2.9 billion, compared to $2.8 billion in 2012.

The U.S. is still Israel’s biggest customer with 37% of the market, followed by Hong Kong, Switzerland, Belgium and then India.

“The global diamond industry faced serious economic challenges in 2013—high rough diamond prices, a slowdown in Asian markets and a reduction in credit,” Moti Ganz, chairman of the Israel Diamond Institute said in a statement. “Despite that, the Israeli Diamond Industry was able to achieve significant growth through creativity and resourcefulness.”

In an interview posted on the organization’s website, Israel’s diamond controller Shmuel Mordechai said that while exports have recovered somewhat from last year, profitability is still suffering.

“The percentage of profits has dropped, and it may be that some of the firms experienced losses,” Mordechai said.

The industry also faces a dilemma because while the price of uncut stones rose “dramatically … there was no corresponding increase in the prices of polished diamonds,” Mordechai explained.

Israeli diamond traders have also been fighting lawmakers who are introducing anti-money laundering legislation.

“We hope that the continued advancing of the restriction will happen in lockstep with the industry, but if it doesn’t, it will happen in any case without the industry’s approval,” Mordechai said.

The restrictions are currently being drafted and are part of a broader move to make Israel’s diamond industry more transparent, especially in regards to “blood diamonds.”

Mordechai recently told Haaretz that within a year gemological labs will have to be licensed and adhere to a set of standards for determining the origin of the stones.

Israel is a big player in the global diamond industry; the country’s Diamond Exchange is the largest of its kind in the world.

Uranium news from Saskatchewan and elsewhere for October 19 to 25, 2013

Forum Uranium TSXV:FDC released soil and water radon surveys from its Clearwater project adjacently southwest to Patterson Lake South. Soil results “are similar and higher than those located immediately west” of the PLS R00E zone, according to Forum’s October 22 announcement. Radon surveys played an important role in identifying drill targets at R00E and east along trend. The Alpha Minerals TSXV:AMW/Fission Uranium TSXV:FCU joint venture now plans autumn drilling west of R00E while waiting for freeze-up.

Bear grid: Up to 1.33 picocuries per square metre per second (pCi/m2/s)

West Bear grid: Up to 1.08 pCi/m2/s

Mungo grid: Up to 0.92 pCi/m2/s

Additionally, a small lake in the Mungo grid returned up to 18 picocuries per litre (pCi/L), “which is considered to be very anomalous when compared with a maximum value of 12 pCi/L immediately over the Patterson Lake South deposits,” Forum stated. The company added that 428 samples were taken “over areas with electromagnetic conductors and over the interpreted extension of the Patterson Lake structure that hosts the PLS deposits.”

Near-term plans include a ground gravity survey over the same areas and possibly further radon studies prior to setting targets on the 9,910-hectare property for a drill campaign to begin in late January.

Lakeland Resources appoints expert adviser, closes second tranche

In joining the Lakeland Resources TSXV:LK advisory board, Athabasca Basin veteran John Gingerich returns to some familiar turf. With over 30 years’ experience, the geoscientist worked for Eldorado Nuclear from 1979 to 1986, spending most of that time in the north-central Basin exploring property now held by Lakeland, the company stated on October 23. Additionally he served in the Noranda group’s senior management, founded Geotechnical Business Solutions and chairs both the Canadian Mining Industry Research Organization’s exploration division and the Ontario Geological Survey’s advisory board.

The radon survey is done and line-cutting and resistivity are underway. Once we compile that data we’ll have it interpreted and zero in on drill targets likely for January. We’ll have a fairly steady stream of news over the next few months.—Jonathan Armes, president/CEO of Lakeland Resources

Speaking to ResourceClips.com, Lakeland president/CEO Jonathan Armes says Gingerich “co-ordinated exploration activities from Stony Rapids to Fond du Lac, on properties we’re now exploring, so he’s quite familiar with that neck of the woods. But at that time they didn’t have some of the technologies we now have in the way of geophysics and radon surveys. He said it was tough determining where to drill back in those days. But he certainly feels there’s potential based on the historic findings. He’s also trying to dig up some additional historic work besides the data we’ve already found. He’s definitely a valuable addition to our board, given his experience up there.”

“The radon survey is done and line-cutting and resistivity are underway,” Armes says. “Once we compile that data we’ll have it interpreted and zero in on drill targets likely for January. We’ll have a fairly steady stream of news over the next few months. We also retained an interest in the gold project we vended to New Dimension Resources [TSXV:NDR], which will likely be drilled in the next few weeks. That’s a bonus side story for us while we continue our focus on the Basin. So things are going extremely well.”

A crew prepares to drill a target on Rockgate’s flagship Falea project in Mali.

But three days later, and just one day before its offer was to expire, Denison extended the deadline to November 1. Denison stated that, while its bid remains open for acceptance, the company needed time to remedy change of control protections that Rockgate had provided to employees and consultants: “In light of these actions, the conditions to Denison’s takeover bid offer cannot be fulfilled.”

Results are pending but Phase II exploration at Zadar Ventures’ TSXV:ZAD PNE project has wrapped up, the company announced October 22. Work included scintillometer prospecting, boulder mapping and radon surveys over nine areas. The company added that an eight-kilometre conductive trend on the adjacent Patterson Lake North project announced earlier this month by JV partners Fission and Azincourt Uranium TSXV:AAZ marks a “very positive development” for the 15,292-hectare PNE property.

Zadar also announced 100,000 incentive options at $0.25 for two years.

Uranium news from Saskatchewan and elsewhere for July 27 to August 2, 2013

Just two weeks ago they were crowing about “the most abundant off-scale mineralization of any hole” at Patterson Lake South. Now Fission Uranium TSXV:FCU and 50/50 joint venture partner Alpha Minerals TSXV:AMW say they’ve surpassed that. Scintillometer readings for one of two shallow step-outs reported July 29 represent “the largest accumulation of discrete off-scale mineralized intervals in any drill hole at PLS to date.” The two holes add 30 metres of strike to R390E, the middle of three zones along an 850-metre northeast-southwest trend. Including the 15-metre extension resulting from the hole announced July 18, the campaign’s first three holes have extended the zone’s strike by 75% to 105 metres.

The scintillometer measures gamma radiation from drill core in counts per second, up to an off-scale reading over 9,999 cps. Scintillometer readings are not assays, which are still pending. A radiometric probe will also be used to measure downhole radiation.

Again, true widths were unknown. The 188-metre hole struck sandstone at 47 metres and the basement unconformity at 49.3 metres. The first PLS13-075 result above included 21.65 metres of mineralization over 9,999 cps in several intervals, which the JV partners call the project’s “largest accumulation of discrete off-scale mineralized intervals” so far. They include 16.7 metres of continuous off-scale readings starting at 73.5 metres’ depth. Although Alpha and Fission anticipate that its main zone of mineralization has been found, drilling on this hole continues.

As does the $6.95-million program, comprising ground geophysics and about 44 holes totalling 11,000 metres.

Paladin Energy TSX:PDN has dropped negotiations to sell a minority interest in its Langer Heinrich mine in Namibia. In one of three August 2 announcements, the company said uranium’s currently low price would drive down offers on an asset with expansion potential and a mine life of over 20 years.

Paladin also reported it expects a further non-cash impairment estimated at US$180 million before taxes, which the company attributed to its Kayelekera mine in Malawi, Niger exploration projects “and other smaller items.” Paladin suspended work in Niger following May 23 terrorist attacks.

Within minutes of reporting the suspended sale Paladin announced it was offering a private placement “to provide adequate funding for the company into the September quarter” despite low uranium prices. Later the same day Paladin announced it closed the placement at $C81 million. The money came from 125.6 million shares, representing 15% of the company’s existing issued capital, at a 30% discount to the stock’s previous ASX close.

Paladin managing director/CEO John Borshoff said the money would help “reduce debt in the mid-term.”

On July 31 the company reported a fatal accident in Kayelekera’s engineering workshop.

A Vancouver-headquartered company with uranium projects in three American states announced a strategic alliance with Asia’s “only significant uranium investment and development vehicle.” On August 1 Powertech Uranium TSX:PWE reported Azarga Resources Ltd, a privately held Hong Kong-based company, agreed to a number of deals.

As of July 22 Azarga bought 24.65 million shares at $0.07 for a total of $1.72 million, giving the purchaser an initial 17.5% of Powertech. Azarga also provided Powertech with $514,350 in return for a debenture with the amount payable at 115% within 12 months or 130% within two years. Powertech may instead convert the principal into shares granted to Azarga at $0.07. Full conversion would leave Azarga with an approximate 22% interest in Powertech.

Azarga also agreed to buy a 60% chunk of Powertech’s Centennial project in Colorado for $1.5 million over two years. Should shareholders oppose the purchase, $1 million of the purchase price would be converted to a debenture on the same terms as the other. On completing the 60% purchase, the two companies would form a JV with Azarga acting as project operator.

The deal would include a put option, in which Powertech could sell its remaining 40% after January 1, 2017, for $250,000, and a call option, allowing Azarga to buy the 40% after that date for $7 million or, within 10 days of a change of control at Powertech, for $1 million.

The companies further agreed to share data and expertise, with Azarga using “its best efforts to support any equity financings” undertaken by Powertech. In a statement accompanying the announcement, Powertech president/CEO Richard Clement said Azarga’s “positioning in Asia will provide enhanced access and exposure to those markets.”

The transactions are subject to shareholder and TSX approval.

Powertech released a preliminary economic assessment for an in-situ recovery (ISR) mine at Centennial in August 2010. Following local opposition, Colorado imposed new restrictions on uranium mining the following month. Powertech lost its court challenge against the new regulations in July 2012. By that time the company had already shifted focus to its Dewey-Burdock project in South Dakota, for which it released a revised PEA in April 2012. The project is now undergoing permitting and licensing with the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Powertech has two other uranium projects in Wyoming.

Azarga stated it currently has no plans to develop Centennial but will instead review the project’s exploration and development potential. Azarga also holds an 80% operating interest in “the largest-known Soviet-era resource in the Kyrgyz Republic,” as well as interests in other uranium projects in the U.S. and Turkey.

On July 30 Forum Uranium TSXV:FDC announced airborne radiometrics had begun over its Clearwater project, adjacently southwest of Alpha/Fission’s PLS property. The survey consists of 1,463 line-kilometres at 100-metre spacing over the 99-square-kilometre property to measure surface radioactivity in outcrops or boulder trains using a proprietary system of Goldak Airborne Surveys. Forum says preliminary interpretation of its magnetic and electromagnetic survey suggests one of Clearwater’s conductors hosts the PLS discovery.

On further scrutinizing the airborne surveys, the company will begin prospecting, radon surveys and lake sediment geochemical sampling this month. Ground geophysics might also be used to identify drill targets.

Earlier in July, Forum announced it extended the company’s Key Lake-area holdings in the Athabasca Basin’s southeast corner.

Ur-Energy begins Lost Creek production in Wyoming

Ur-Energy TSX:URE began mining its Lost Creek operation on August 2. The ISR project in Wyoming’s Great Divide Basin took eight years and US$95 million to develop and should, according to an April 2012 PEA, produce about 7.38 million pounds uranium oxide (U3O8) over 14 years. The 2012 numbers assumed uranium prices ranging from $55 to $80 a pound, substantially higher than the current seven-year low of $34.50. But with those numbers the PEA used an 8% discount rate to calculate a pre-tax net present value of $181 million and an 87% internal rate of return.

Ur-Energy says it holds long-term contracts with several U.S.-based utilities and will begin deliveries in Q4.

Cameco Corp’s TSX:CCO Q2 report came out August 1, with the company reporting $421 million in revenue, 49% above the same period last year and a $99-million gross profit, up 98%. Net earnings attributable to equity holders came to $34 million or $0.09 a share. Adjusted net earnings were $61 million or $0.15 a share.